


Roses Are Red...

by talesfromthesnogbox



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: M/M, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 12:27:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29436045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talesfromthesnogbox/pseuds/talesfromthesnogbox
Summary: Eddie really can't explain why he brings a dozen red roses home for his friend on Valentine's Day. After Ch2 idiots to lovers fix-it fic.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 4
Kudos: 61





	Roses Are Red...

Eddie took a deep breath before opening the door to Richie’s (and now his) home. They’d been living together for over a year, and it wasn’t out of the ordinary for one to bring home a surprise every once and a while, but this… this was Valentine's Day.

“Eds!” He was immediately greeted by Richie’s voice from the kitchen. “Eds I’ve got a surprise for you—”

His voice trailed off as he watched Eddie approach, his arms full.

“Hi.”

Richie was stood at their kitchen island, covered in flour. “I… um… it’s Valentine's Day, so I figured we could make homemade pizza or something—what, what’s with the roses?”

Eddie looked down at his arms, almost as if he’d forgotten he was holding a bouquet of a dozen red roses. “Oh… um… I dunno.” He flushed.

Richie frowned. “Did someone at work give them to you?” He smiled when Eddie shook his head no. “So spaghedward has a secret admirer then?”

Eddie scoffed at the other man. “No, I just… I picked them up on the way home from work. And these.” He held up a small pastry box, two red velvet cupcakes with plush white icing and red heart-shaped sprinkles on them. “I thought… well… I don’t know what I was thinking honestly.”

The taller man gasped mockingly. “My oh my, mama, a gentleman’s brought me flowers!” Eddie rolled his eyes, he expected one of Richie’s ‘voices’ to make an appearance, but he wasn’t expecting blushing southern belle.

“Shut up. What kind of pizza are you making?”

Richie giggled, dusting flour over the surface of the dough to roll it back out. “I dunno, I just bought a bunch of toppings and figured we could make our own personal pizzas. Thought it could be a fun little thing for dinner.” He adjusted his glasses, averting his eyes as he spoke. “So, am I getting a little taste of what the missus was treated to on the day of romance?”

Eddie frowned, searching the cabinets for a suitable vase. He eventually found a glass pitcher that would do the job. “ _Ex_ -missues. No, she didn’t like flowers, thought it would set off my non-existent allergies.”

“Oh. So you got them on the way just because?”

“Yeah I guess. I’d never brought home flowers for anyone and, and I guess I just wanted to see what it felt like to bring home flowers for someone.”

“Ohhhh so they _are_ for me then, are they?”

“No! They’re for… they’re for… us.”

“Us?” Richie peered over the dough circle he was shaping in his hands.

“Yeah, you know, the two of us that live in this house.” He loosened his tie and sat across from Richie at the island.

“And what exactly convinced you, as a newly single man, to bring home a dozen red roses to your gay, very single and available roommate slash best friend?”

Eddie threw his hands up, exasperated. The truth was, he didn’t really know _why_ he decided to bring flowers home for Richie. He saw them on his way home and thought they’d be a nice gesture, but there was definitely a fluttering deep in his belly when the florist had asked if he was bringing them home to someone special. Richie _was_ someone special in Eddie’s life, he always knew this was a fact, and never denied it, but just how special he was… Eddie didn’t even think _he_ knew the answer to that.

“I don’t know, Rich, what do you want me to say?”

Richie giggled. “Getting heated there shortstop? Chill Eds, I’m just messing with you. They’re beautiful, thank you.” He was definitely fishing for _something_ , and Richie’s heart sank a little when Eddie immediately didn’t admit the roses meant something. But friends did things for their friends all the time for Valentine's Day, right? Ben used to make the Losers a homemade card each with a little poem, and Stan… well Stan didn’t do anything if he was being honest, but it seems like he got his footing now with Patty and their mini-Uris, still cooking in Patty’s belly.

“I’m not… ugh, you’re welcome.” He was silent for a moment, watching Richie shape and form the soft pillows of dough into the perfect pizza rounds, thin crust just like Eddie liked it, and cheese stuffed crust on his own.

“Would you like to come do the honours of topping your pizza Mr. Kaspbrak?”

Eddie smiled and walked around the island to join Richie on the other side. “Sure, what do I do?”

Richie handed him a spoon. The thing about Richie that surprised Eddie the most was how competent he was in the kitchen. There were definitely a few misses in his culinary escapades, but many, _many_ more hits. He had a good handle on Italian, and Eddie trusted from the delicious smells wafting from the pot beside him that this homemade pizza sauce would be delicious.

“Plop a little bit in the middle and spread it out. Not too much or the crust will be soggy. Yeah, just like that.” Richie handed him a bowl of shredded cheese and showed him how to sprinkle it evenly, dusting little flakes of oregano on top. It felt so _domestic_ , moreso than it ever had, the two of them cooking together. Eddie couldn’t help but feel like he was catching a glimpse of what it would be like if Richie were more than just his friend, and it warmed him inside. He found himself leaning in to the taller man as he watched Eddie over his shoulder, his elbow bumping the soft belly just behind him. It was nice, and Eddie couldn’t deny that his heart got caught in his throat as Richie looked down at him with pride.

“Cool, so we’ll pop these in the oven and come back to them in a bit. What do you wanna do tonight loverboy?”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Fuck off. Just because I brought those stupid roses home.”

Richie chuckled lowly. “Eddie K, king of romance. Who would have thought?”

“You’re insufferable. I’m going to change, put a movie on or something.”

When Eddie came back into the room, Richie was already lounging on the couch with Sixteen Candles loaded and ready to go.

“Clearly sappy gestures of love aren’t your thing, so I figured a good old John Hughes throwback rom-com would be safe.”

“Dude, would you just drop the roses thing already?”

The oven timer beeped, and Richie jumped up to plate the pizzas.

Eddie sighed, dragging a hand across his face. For the tenth time in a matter of minutes, he questioned why he felt the need to bring Richie roses.

“I don’t know, okay?”

“Sorry, what was that?”

“I said I don’t know. Everyone at work was talking about the dinner reservations they’d made, and the fancy jewellery they’d bought their significant others, and I just… I don’t know, maybe I was jealous?”

Richie frowned, taking a bite of his still too-hot pizza. “Jealous of what?”

Eddie shrugged, searching for the words. “Jealous of how easy it seems to do something like that. I don’t know! And then when I was walking to my car, I just… I passed that florist, and something… something _compelled_ me to go in. Maybe it could be that easy, but obviously it isn’t!”

“Ooh you know me baby, I’ve always been easy.” Richie winked.

“But you really aren’t, asshole!” Eddie slapped a hand over his mouth, not feeling in control of what was coming out of it anymore. “I—I… Richie, what are we doing?”

Richie’s eyes narrowed. He set his slice down and wiped the bits of sauce and crumb from the stubble on his chin. “What do you mean?”

“I mean… I just… I feel like… Ugh I don’t know what I feel! Sometimes I’m fine, I’m great, life goes on like normal and I don’t think of you every second of the day, and then sometimes I walk past a flower shop and see red roses and it’s like something inside of me is just screaming to do something romantic. But the second you question me, I turn into this!”

Richie presses the tips of his fingers together, steepling them under his nose, deep in thought. “Eds. I just want to make sure we’re on the same page here before I go and say something stupid, but is this… are you trying to tell me that you’re—”

“Maybe! I don’t… I don’t know. My coworkers, they just were talking about their wives and how amazing they were and all that, and I just wanted to gush about you. I wanted to tell them that you’re an amazing cook and how nice it feels when you massage a knot out of my shoulder after a run. And that sometimes I’ll lean into you on purpose when we’re just hanging out because I _know_ that you love to hold people, and it feels so good when you hold me. And even though we’ve known each other for like thirty years, I’m still amazed by how much I learn about you every day, and I’m not sick of you! Even when we spend all day hanging out together, I take my time going to bed because I don’t want to leave your side.”

Richie blinked. “Um… that sounded pretty gay Eds.”

He threw his hands up. “Do you want me to get any gayer, because I can definitely go there if you want.”

Richie’s eyebrows raised into his hairline. “Wow. How much gayer can you go?”

Eddie stared at him incredulously. “Do you know how nice your ass is?”

“Woah! Eds, okay yeah, that’s pretty gay! How long have you been bottling this all up?”

“Dude, how long have you known me?”

Richie chuckled. “I know you’ve always been a tight-ass with a tight ass if that’s what your asking.”

“No, Rich, I’m saying—I don’t know what I’m saying. This is dumb. Forget this conversation ever happened please.”

“Are you kidding me? Mr. Squats-at-the-gym-every-day told me I have a nice ass, I’m wearing that with pride. C’mon Eds, what are you thinking in that tiny little head of yours.”

“I’m thinking you use humour as a coping mechanism and you’ve done nothing but make jokes this entire time so you definitely don’t feel the same way I do.”

Richie shook his head. “You say you learn something new about me every day, so here’s a new one for today. I’m making jokes because I’m guarding my heart Eduardo. I’ve been trying to not get my hopes up about us for years. It’s your first Valentine's Day as a divorced man, and I’m trying not to act too excited by the fact that what you said to me not two minutes ago kinda sounded like a confession of love.”

Eddie went silent, weighing his options. That moment seemed to be a liminal space, a meeting point between two worlds, and the scale could be tipped either way at any second. On the one hand, he could brush it off completely, pretend it never happened and go back to being friends, although their relationship would be strained at first by the gravity of what they each knew now. On the other hand, he could spill the beans, tell Richie everything, ruin their friendship wholly and completely, and move onto something more, but they’d never be able to come back from that. They’d never be able to come back to being just friends if they tipped the scale and gave into what they truly felt inside. The cards were pretty well all laid out on the table already, either had a hint that the other felt _something_ past friendship for the other, and now someone just had to take the next step to solidify that. From the way Richie wrung his fingers together, Eddie knew it would have to be him.

There was no time to contemplate it anymore. The seconds passed by like hours, and every moment Eddie continually thought of why it would be a _bad_ idea, he could see Richie’s resolve breaking. This had to be a split second decision, he knew it did, either he would say something, or he’d drop it. But Eddie wasn’t like Richie, he’d never been good with words, his sharp tongue wasn’t entirely clever, just fast. He’d never be able to weave the words in a way that showed Richie how conflicted he was, so instead, he acted.

Eddie’s hand on Richie’s cheek was cold and demanding as he pulled the taller man’s face closer. The gap was closed before Richie even knew what was happening, and their lips pressed together with a satisfying smack. Eddie’s heart was in his throat. He did it, he _actually_ did it, and the world hadn’t collapsed.

Richie settled into the kiss once the initial shock had worn off, taking the lead from Eddie. He breathed out heavily, breaking their connection earlier than he would have liked, and looked at the other pointedly.

“I brought home roses for you on Valentine's Day because I love you.”

“I made homemade pizza on Valentine's Day because I love you. And I bought a fancy bottle of wine but that’s for later I think.”

Eddie chuckled. “Look at us, we’re a mess. Were you ever planning on telling me?”

“Of course not! Do you know how long I’ve wanted to kiss you?” Richie took his hand. “Remember that party Mike threw for Bill’s sixteenth and Bev started that game of truth or dare? I _only_ because she promised to dare you to kiss me. And she didn’t!”

Eddie laid a peck on Richie’s lips, just because he could. “There, we don’t need Bev.”

“I’m calling her and telling her she’s cancelled.”

“Maybe let’s just spend tonight together and cancel her in the morning.”

Richie laughed and pulled Eddie closer. “Sounds like a plan spaghetti.”

Eddie snuggled further into Richie, but reached for his pizza. “Pass me my plate, I need to actually taste this thing before I can brag about how good a cook my boyfriend is to my coworkers.”

“Boyfriend?”

Eddie clammed up. “Is… is that alright?”

Richie nuzzled his face into Eddie’s hair. “Of course it is, I love you.”

A warmth spread through Eddie’s belly. “I love you too. Now pass me my pizza so we can finish and tear into those cupcakes.”


End file.
